Independent 7211 by Dac
Posted by nmsindy on November 25th, 2009
Solving time, 18 mins. Excellent, as ever, from Dac.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 HO SEA(of Galilee) Prophet from the Bible
4 WADES INTO ad = notice in (townies)*
9 GR EGORIAN a in (region)* The calendar we use now
10 MI CRA arc< Good surface
11 FLAT TOP Definition: crew cut US aircraft carrier = flattop (one word)
12 David HOCK N(E)Y NY = New York E = opening (first letter) of exhibition
13/14 VEGETARIAN FOOD (good native fare)* V appropriate anagram “fodder”
17 SLAP ON THE WRIST (Welsh star in top)* Good misdirection in surface
22 MORNING greeting = “mourning”, I think
23 N (ON-US) ER(o) Roman Emperor
24 CON GO
25 AUTHOR IS facE
26 WIS(e) CONS IN
27 GREET Hidden Definition: to use HIGH FIVES
DOWN
1 HIGH (euphoric) FIVES (game)
2 SHE (CA hit in the 1970s) BANG (a big hit) Definition: issue = affair, matter etc
3 APO STATE (o pa)< governor = pa
4 WHISPERING GRASS 1970s hit pun on sing = grass = inform
5 DINAH (“diner”) WASHINGTON Singer from 1940s to 1960s nmsindy remembers well (from the later period…)
6 SUMACH (a chum’s)*
7 NO CAN DO Suspected this was the answer straightaway from definition and enumeration. Don’t understand the wordplay, though. ‘do’ may mean ‘work’. “What would make Co-op work? Impossible” Thanks, Gaufrid, for explaining this at comment 2 below.
8 O RACY
15 DE (TERRE) NT terre = country in French, ie according to S. Euphemism for nuclear weapon.
16 SWAN S ON Grand swan, a literary word for a poet on = taking the stage
18 A1 RINGS
20 INSPIRE (ie prison)* less o. My favourite clue with cleverly misleading use of ‘stir’
21 K (I’M) O NO (little number)
22 MAC AW
November 25th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Just spent a very enjoyable half hour with this over my lunchbreak, and came within three of completing it. I think that 7ac may be a play on ‘no can do’ meaning a party with no cans allowed, a clue I’ve seen at least once before. Can’t quite get it to work, though.
November 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hi NMS
7d ‘Co-op’ with NO C AND O leaves ‘op’ (work)
November 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Brilliant! Thanks for the explantion, Gaufrid.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Now that’s more like it. Good tidy clues that make you think but are accessible and that don’t raise questions once you’ve solved them. But I suppose it’s a matter of what level one is at.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Great puzzle. 7dn is a wonderful clue. It took me a while to work out the explanation. (I think it deserves an &lit, judging by a Co-op in Dulverton, Somerset which despite having its ethical heart in the right place, must be one of the world’s worst shops I have been into).